Onward to Victoria Falls....
Last evening after some free time we had a group briefing from Tony in his amusing way. He covered some of the details of the next few days and reiterated some of his advice on money, malaria and mosquitos.
Our tour will be somewhat different from those taken several years ago. We will no longer have an elephant ride due to humane concerns for the animals. I'm a little sorry about that...would have made a terrific "look at grandma" picture.
There will also be no walk with the baby lions. This activity was scraped when a ten month old lion attracted by the sun glinting on the silver bouffant hairdo of one of the tour pounced on her back. When thirty stitches are involved an activity usually gets revisited. I'm ambivalent about this...given my propensity of attracting bugs I'm afraid of what my silver locks might provoke in a lion.
Afterward everyone introduced themselves and gave a short bio. As has been our experience, we are traveling with a group of interesting, well-read and well-traveled peers. Many have been to Africa numerous times. We are looking forward to getting to know them better.
A welcome dinner follows. The dining room is lovely but noisy so that it is hard to make conversation. We had given Tony our orders on the bus ride from Soweto and the staff did a pretty good job of distributing steaks, one of the four entree choices, all cooked to different degrees of doneness. It was a pleasant meal.
This morning we awoke, breakfasted and said goodbye to 54 on Bath. I will miss this hotel and all its amenities. We are leaving Johannesburg, or Egola, the place of gold and its 6000 ft above sea level perch for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
Today is Sunday and our transit is easy. O.R. Tambo Airport is sprawling and fairly modern. It is best known for the sticky fingers of its baggage handlers and we have been cautioned not to pack anything that might look valuable on x-ray. This is the first airport I have seen where you can pay to have your luggage shrink wrapped in bright Saran Wrap- like film meant to deter such easy access to your belongings. I think it is a great idea.
Tony shepherds us through Passport control and then security and we end up at the terminal for regional air traffic. It was lots of walking and it felt great. We are very early. Tours have to do this in order to herd the group and sometimes even go find lost sheep.
Unfortunately each gate only has about 30 seats so there was much standing around. Our plane is smaller so there is no jetway; we will be bused to the outskirts of the airport. It was very hot inside and the heat mixed with the diesel fumes that entered every time the doors opened was oppressive. Make sure you wear layers that can be peeled off for this travel day.
Bused to our plane with a bunch of fragrant Frenchmen, we are finally underway for the 1.5 hr flight. This was a British Airways flight and they flew down the aisles handing out hot lunches in a most efficient way.
As we approach our destination we can see large lake-like puddles of water. This area had been under a severe drought for several years. Tony says that the difference in the terrain between November, before the beginning of the rainy season, and now after good rains, is a remarkable turnaround. Before, emaciated cattle were just dropping dead on the side of the road.
The airport is small but modern. On arrival, we surrender our passports and visa applications along with $45.00 each to Tony who hands them off to someone to complete our double entry visa to Zimbabwe. What an uncomfortable feeling to take off with no passport! If you are Canadian it will cost you $75.00. President Mugabe, still controversial at 93, took offense at Trudeau's condemnation of his civil rights record. Oh, no, Canada!
Stanley, our bus driver, ferries us to town here in what was previously Southern Rhodesia. The earth in the surrounding fields is mixed with the red sand of the Kalahari desert, blown by the prevailing winds from the Indian Ocean.
The Victoria Falls Hotel is the city's premier accommodation and the grande dame of the landscape. Built in 1904, she was the first of the area's hotels and sits overlooking the falls and its spray on pristinely maintained grounds. Baboons and Vervet monkeys roam. We are cautioned not to leave our windows open lest we return to find our suitcases rifled through in search of anything sweet.
In the tradition of the time, our rooms are small with twin beds swathed in mosquito netting. There are few electrical outlets and little room to leave open suitcases. I am wondering how my colleagues with giant luggage are faring. Fortunately we always travel with a power strip allowing us to plug in six devices off one outlet so that helps a bit. Electronic and space difficulties aside, this site is without peer.
We change into shorts for our trip to the falls. The smartest thing I did today was leave my good walking shoes behind changing into some heavy duty flip flops. Stanley, named for the explorer, takes us on
the bus to the Victoria Falls National Park for our trek to view one of the seven wonders of the world.
David Livingstone the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls in 1855, from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the Zambian side. He named his discovery in honor of Queen Victoria, but the indigenous Tonga name translates to the Smoke that Thunders.
For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley, bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river's course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls roaring through the first gorge with tremendous power.
The second smart thing I did was to take the poncho offered by Stanley. It is warm and sunny today and the ponchos are a full length, hooded heavy gauge plastic. Eventually Paul decides he will take one even though they are cumbersome to carry given our cameras and i-Phones nestled in their zip- loc bags. However, I decide the wet tee shirt years are long gone!
The park is well maintained with wide stone paths. Today we will traverse the length of the falls, a distance of one mile...and then there is the return. We begin at the first gorge where the water surges through with a great roar. The rainbows abound.
As you follow the path there are spurs for the best viewing. I am beginning to wonder why I took the poncho, still folded in a square, clamped between my knees as I struggle to take photos.
As we near the central area of the falls, it becomes clear why we are packing plastic. The spray now comes as a moderate rainfall. Even my skeptic husband is wearing his poncho. We look like a collection of crows waddling down the path.
As we near the end point we view the bridge straddling the Zambezi river connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia. The rain is now at storm proportions. Our return path takes us away from the perimeter and is much drier. Everyone completed the transit, including our senior colleague, at 85 years old, and his lady. It was an unforgettable experience of nature's beauty and power.
Last evening after some free time we had a group briefing from Tony in his amusing way. He covered some of the details of the next few days and reiterated some of his advice on money, malaria and mosquitos.
Our tour will be somewhat different from those taken several years ago. We will no longer have an elephant ride due to humane concerns for the animals. I'm a little sorry about that...would have made a terrific "look at grandma" picture.
There will also be no walk with the baby lions. This activity was scraped when a ten month old lion attracted by the sun glinting on the silver bouffant hairdo of one of the tour pounced on her back. When thirty stitches are involved an activity usually gets revisited. I'm ambivalent about this...given my propensity of attracting bugs I'm afraid of what my silver locks might provoke in a lion.
Afterward everyone introduced themselves and gave a short bio. As has been our experience, we are traveling with a group of interesting, well-read and well-traveled peers. Many have been to Africa numerous times. We are looking forward to getting to know them better.
A welcome dinner follows. The dining room is lovely but noisy so that it is hard to make conversation. We had given Tony our orders on the bus ride from Soweto and the staff did a pretty good job of distributing steaks, one of the four entree choices, all cooked to different degrees of doneness. It was a pleasant meal.
This morning we awoke, breakfasted and said goodbye to 54 on Bath. I will miss this hotel and all its amenities. We are leaving Johannesburg, or Egola, the place of gold and its 6000 ft above sea level perch for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
Today is Sunday and our transit is easy. O.R. Tambo Airport is sprawling and fairly modern. It is best known for the sticky fingers of its baggage handlers and we have been cautioned not to pack anything that might look valuable on x-ray. This is the first airport I have seen where you can pay to have your luggage shrink wrapped in bright Saran Wrap- like film meant to deter such easy access to your belongings. I think it is a great idea.
Tony shepherds us through Passport control and then security and we end up at the terminal for regional air traffic. It was lots of walking and it felt great. We are very early. Tours have to do this in order to herd the group and sometimes even go find lost sheep.
Unfortunately each gate only has about 30 seats so there was much standing around. Our plane is smaller so there is no jetway; we will be bused to the outskirts of the airport. It was very hot inside and the heat mixed with the diesel fumes that entered every time the doors opened was oppressive. Make sure you wear layers that can be peeled off for this travel day.
Bused to our plane with a bunch of fragrant Frenchmen, we are finally underway for the 1.5 hr flight. This was a British Airways flight and they flew down the aisles handing out hot lunches in a most efficient way.
As we approach our destination we can see large lake-like puddles of water. This area had been under a severe drought for several years. Tony says that the difference in the terrain between November, before the beginning of the rainy season, and now after good rains, is a remarkable turnaround. Before, emaciated cattle were just dropping dead on the side of the road.
The airport is small but modern. On arrival, we surrender our passports and visa applications along with $45.00 each to Tony who hands them off to someone to complete our double entry visa to Zimbabwe. What an uncomfortable feeling to take off with no passport! If you are Canadian it will cost you $75.00. President Mugabe, still controversial at 93, took offense at Trudeau's condemnation of his civil rights record. Oh, no, Canada!
Stanley, our bus driver, ferries us to town here in what was previously Southern Rhodesia. The earth in the surrounding fields is mixed with the red sand of the Kalahari desert, blown by the prevailing winds from the Indian Ocean.
The Victoria Falls Hotel is the city's premier accommodation and the grande dame of the landscape. Built in 1904, she was the first of the area's hotels and sits overlooking the falls and its spray on pristinely maintained grounds. Baboons and Vervet monkeys roam. We are cautioned not to leave our windows open lest we return to find our suitcases rifled through in search of anything sweet.
In the tradition of the time, our rooms are small with twin beds swathed in mosquito netting. There are few electrical outlets and little room to leave open suitcases. I am wondering how my colleagues with giant luggage are faring. Fortunately we always travel with a power strip allowing us to plug in six devices off one outlet so that helps a bit. Electronic and space difficulties aside, this site is without peer.
We change into shorts for our trip to the falls. The smartest thing I did today was leave my good walking shoes behind changing into some heavy duty flip flops. Stanley, named for the explorer, takes us on
David Livingstone the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls in 1855, from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the Zambian side. He named his discovery in honor of Queen Victoria, but the indigenous Tonga name translates to the Smoke that Thunders.
For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley, bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river's course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls roaring through the first gorge with tremendous power.
The second smart thing I did was to take the poncho offered by Stanley. It is warm and sunny today and the ponchos are a full length, hooded heavy gauge plastic. Eventually Paul decides he will take one even though they are cumbersome to carry given our cameras and i-Phones nestled in their zip- loc bags. However, I decide the wet tee shirt years are long gone!
The park is well maintained with wide stone paths. Today we will traverse the length of the falls, a distance of one mile...and then there is the return. We begin at the first gorge where the water surges through with a great roar. The rainbows abound.
As you follow the path there are spurs for the best viewing. I am beginning to wonder why I took the poncho, still folded in a square, clamped between my knees as I struggle to take photos.
As we near the central area of the falls, it becomes clear why we are packing plastic. The spray now comes as a moderate rainfall. Even my skeptic husband is wearing his poncho. We look like a collection of crows waddling down the path.
As we near the end point we view the bridge straddling the Zambezi river connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia. The rain is now at storm proportions. Our return path takes us away from the perimeter and is much drier. Everyone completed the transit, including our senior colleague, at 85 years old, and his lady. It was an unforgettable experience of nature's beauty and power.
Once returned to the hotel, we change and prepare for dinner at their outdoor dining venue, the Jungle Junction, named for the original railroad stop. It is a lovely, clear night and we are
all warned to wear long pants and sleeves and DEET ourselves well. Dinner is a buffet affair where we both somewhat enjoyed
some grilled crocodile. The meal was accompanied by a musical and dance performance from various native tribes. It was a wonderful, memorable evening!
Two comments after this extensive post:
ReplyDelete1. Never.Ever.Trust.A.Fragrant.Frenchman
2. Don't be so self-judging in regards to wet T-shirts. Hakuna Matada
Once again, I am enjoying your writing style! I was looking forward to the wet T shirt look tho... Also those mosquitos are scary. They were everywhere on our last voyage and was happy to have Deet.
ReplyDelete